Please stop with the Amex forms!!!

Am I the only one getting absolutely sick and tired of having an Amex form shoved in front of you at every opportunity on VS?

I've had, on 3 separate occasions, various items in the post from VS. Every flight I have to listen to them drone on about it on the PA system and on my most recent return flight from NBO, I was interrupted while watching a film so I could be handed an application by the FSM.

SURELY common sense should prevail, if its a frequent flyer, don't keep shoving amex applications in their faces as they will have had it countless times before!!

I really don't care for this 'service', it is cheap and nasty the way it is constantly being force fed down passengers throats.

[Nottingham Nick]

Err, can't say I have ever been bothered by them. [?]

Sue did once get a call from someone who claimed at first to be ringing from VS, but quickly admitted that they were hawking the VS Amex card. What was said to them about misrepresenting themselves probably got us crossed off all of all of their marketing lists. [:w]

Nick

[mitchja]

Just last week my mum got a letter from MBNA/VS Amex with an actual plastic (fake) VS Amex card attached to it.

MBNA/VS where trying to flog her a VS Amex card.

I had the MBNA calls too. MBNA do annoy me when they call you and claim to be calling from 'Virgin Atlantic'

Regards

quote:Originally posted by mitchja
Just last week my mum got a letter from MBNA/VS Amex with an actual plastic (fake) VS Amex card attached to it.

MBNA/VS where trying to flog her a VS Amex card.

Regards


Yes, I too have had this particular letter with the fake plastic attached to it. Along with many other variations of letter...! I get more annoyed by the in-flight marketing of the card though, being disturbed mid-flight to be offered it for the 1 millionth time is annoying.

[Neil]

I guess it is impossible for the CC to know who has/hasn't had the info before, and I think for the few seconds it takes to be given the info then it really isn't too much of an issue, but that is just my opinion.

I would be more annoyed if I wasn't offered something that I later found out could have been useful to me.

Neil

I just would have thought it would be fairly obvious to the crew that frequent flyers, silvers and golds, will have been offered it before. They have that information available to them on the aircraft.

I suppose its not so much of an issue if you don't travel frequently with Virgin, but it gets incredibly annoying getting it on a regular basis.

Well, if it was a slice of cheesecake, I'd be happy for them to interrupt me. Is this just a commission thing? The ads before movies annoy me, at least you can fast forward through them.

quote:Originally posted by locutus
Well, if it was a slice of cheesecake, I'd be happy for them to interrupt me. Is this just a commission thing? The ads before movies annoy me, at least you can fast forward through them.


I too would be happy to be interrupted for cheesecake [y]. An amex application, not so much [V]

Yes, the ads on the VOD, the ads in the seatback magazine, the frequent mail shots in the post, FSM's walking around handing out the application forms... I think they want me to do something, but I'm not sure what [ii]

The Cabin Crew are not really given the information regarding who is and who is not Gold/Silver/Red. It is on the main manifest which is usually in the FSM or CSS's hands. The crew are actively encouraged to hand out these forms. It's really just the same as doing a landing card service. You walk through the cabin and hold it out and ask if anyone would like information. Even if we did have a note that 31K was a Gold Card we would still ask them, just incase. What would you say to a member that wanted it and was ignored and not offered because they were a Gold Card Member? Everyone wants different things. You can't please everyone. It's not really that big of a deal in my own opinion. You can always rewind the film if you miss anything!

quote:Originally posted by Galley Guy

The Cabin Crew are not really given the information regarding who is and who is not Gold/Silver/Red. It is on the main manifest which is usually in the FSM or CSS's hands.



Every flight I have been on, and believe me it is a hell of a lot, there is a sheet stuck near the galley in upper and hand written against each J pax is either red, silver gold, uniq or a code such is 09. This is without exception and indeed the CSS used it when chatting to us V-Flyers on the last B2B party bus so there is NO excuse.

quote:Originally posted by Galley Guy
The Cabin Crew are not really given the information regarding who is and who is not Gold/Silver/Red


Hmmm - isn't it SOP to list who is FC Au, on today's VS45 it was quite clear on the meal list pasted to the galley wall! Mind you, if there was a FSM on the flight they must have been vapour!

quote:Originally posted by Galley Guy
... The crew are actively encouraged to hand out these forms. It's really just the same as doing a landing card service.


No it is NOT! A landing card is something that is needed. Cross promotion to back fill VS's pockets is not.

Isn't there somewhere in your FC profile where you can tick 'don't send me stuff'?

[Nottingham Nick]

It is easy to see both sides of the argument here, and therefore see the dilemma that crew face.

It is true that most regular VS passengers know all about the Amex cards and don't want the applications shoved down their throat.

But, we have also seen those passengers who are regular travellers who get miffed if they are missed out of any opportunity to be given something for nothing when things are being handed out. This is even if they don't need, or want, the things being handed out! [;)]

I would think it is the course of least resistance for crew to offer the forms to everyone, rather than risk dissing a VIP passenger by not offering them the forms.

Another thing to remember in this day and age, is that even if someone has a VS gold card - it still may be their first trip on VS metal, and they may be interested in acquiring a much cheaper piece of titanium plastic. [;)][:w]

Nick

quote:Originally posted by hackneyguy
quote:Originally posted by Galley Guy

The Cabin Crew are not really given the information regarding who is and who is not Gold/Silver/Red. It is on the main manifest which is usually in the FSM or CSS's hands.



Every flight I have been on, and believe me it is a hell of a lot, there is a sheet stuck near the galley in upper and hand written against each J pax is either red, silver gold, uniq or a code such is 09. This is without exception and indeed the CSS used it when chatting to us V-Flyers on the last B2B party bus so there is NO excuse.


Notice how I said the 'cabin crew' not the Senior Cabin Crew. Also when you say there is 'NO excuse' I really don't know what you mean. An excuse for offering the service that our company requires us to offer? It's not the cabin crew that are trying to annoy anyone. [:D]

quote:Originally posted by Galley Guy
[Notice how I said the 'cabin crew' not the Senior Cabin Crew. Also when you say there is 'NO excuse' I really don't know what you mean. An excuse for offering the service that our company requires us to offer? It's not the cabin crew that are trying to annoy anyone. [:D]


Sorry but I thought Senior Cabin Crew wee 'Cabin Crew' - how silly of me [:?][:w]

So 'IS IT' or 'IS it NOT' company policy to push this 'extra service' ? [:?] My PA says it is NOT and is up to the crew on that day. Therefore in future when I am disturbed by a CC pushing them in my direction, I will take their names and report them back to my PA for making a frequent flyer feel uncomfortable as she suggests [y]

quote:Originally posted by RK


I've had, on 3 separate occasions, various items in the post from VS.



If you don't want unsolicited mail from VS / Amex then all you have to do is to contact them and tell them. They have to remove you from their databases. But this may mean you miss out on other offers that you might be interested in.

The Mail Preference Service won't cover this because you already have a 'relationship' with Virgin / Amex (though it is very good at stopping 99% of unsolicted mail from marketing companies) as is ticking the box to opt out of the public version of the electoral roll.

Saying that on the 3 sets of return flights I have done on VS in the last year or so I dont recall this happening - other than the usual single PA announcement on each leg re joining Flying Club.

I have to be honest, I would be quite surprised if anyone holding a FC card did not already know about the VS Amex since they regularly send letters to members about it in the post.

HG - I think I might take your advice next time I'm interrupted. I've got to call VS back in the week anyway (my damn laptop was pinched from the upper cabin last week on my flight to Nairobi), so I might mention it then.

Oh and the comment of 'you can always rewind your film' from a VS cabin crew member made me laugh. How do you rewind the Odyssey system again? [:w]

The ex- received this very elaborate letter from
Steve Ridgeway with a dummy Amex inside. He nearly died as he didn't want any
more credit and for a moment thought he'd been signed up without his knowledge.

Given that Quidco cashback on Amex signups is about 50, this is clearly a decent revenue stream for VS who I imagine would get more.

But perhaps not enough, hence it's continued promotion and the various cutbacks witnessed by passengers.

What I would say is that Amex the company as a partner are not that nice and use all sorts of threats to their socalled partners to promote use of their card.

quote:Originally posted by hackneyguy
quote:Originally posted by Galley Guy
[Notice how I said the 'cabin crew' not the Senior Cabin Crew. Also when you say there is 'NO excuse' I really don't know what you mean. An excuse for offering the service that our company requires us to offer? It's not the cabin crew that are trying to annoy anyone. [:D]


Sorry but I thought Senior Cabin Crew wee 'Cabin Crew' - how silly of me [:?][:w]

So 'IS IT' or 'IS it NOT' company policy to push this 'extra service' ? [:?] My PA says it is NOT and is up to the crew on that day. Therefore in future when I am disturbed by a CC pushing them in my direction, I will take their names and report them back to my PA for making a frequent flyer feel uncomfortable as she suggests [y]


Cabin Crew work in the Premium and Economy cabins while Senior Cabin Crew work in Upper Class. Senior Cabin Crew will have a note of who is who on the flying club scale of things, cabin crew will not.

It is not a 'required' service and crew would not get in trouble for not offering the service. However, it is pushed by the company and so most Cabin Service Supervisors ask the crew to go out with the service.

Hackneyguy, has someone stood next to your seat and pushed and pushed for you to take the card? That would be a bit much. Generally you just hold the stack up in the air (like the landing cards) and ask out loud to the general public if anyone would like to sign up to earn more miles with a card. You don't usually even make eye contact. The most common response to this question is a shake of the head and thats it. It is rather unfortunate if there are crew out there making you feel uncomfortable.

Also, believe it or not, we have lots of frequent flyers that do not have the card. Some of them have never even flown VS before! I would say that 50% of the people that do sign up are people that have some sort of status with us.